Lynne Russell, a former anchor for CNN, and her husband, former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro, have survived a deadly gun battle in an Albuquerque, New Mexico, motel on Tuesday night.
Lynne Russell and De Caro were traveling when they decided to call it a night and pulled into a Motel 6. When Russell went back out to the parking lot to get something out of her car around 11:30 p.m., a man wielding a gun forced her back into the couple’s room.
“The man pushed me inside, I was airborne, literally, and landed on the bed,” Russell told Albuquerque’s KOAT 7. “That was about the time that Chuck came out of the shower. The man was just wild. He was pointing the gun, and the way that he was acting, it was as if he’d done it before.”
Ex-CNN anchor Lynne Russell survived a wild shootout in her motel room http://t.co/uTLZj9D6E4 pic.twitter.com/awdBG5CY0O
— New York Post (@nypost) July 2, 2015
According to KOB News, both Lynne Russell and De Caro carry concealed guns, but according to Russell, the robber fired his gun first.
“He wound up taking my husband’s briefcase, and instead of just taking it and leaving, he took it and went over and started firing at my husband. And Chuck fired back and it was a shootout,” Russell said.
According to police, both men fired multiple rounds. The robber was killed and De Caro survived, although he was shot three times.
“I am very, very proud of my husband. He is my hero,” Russell told KOB. “He saved my life.”
Former CNN, CBC journalist describes robbery that ended in fatal shooting http://t.co/mRAb1tfg8H pic.twitter.com/vjcv1B9Ukb
— CBC News (@CBCNews) July 2, 2015
Lynne Russell, who anchored CNN Headline News from 1983 to 2001, was not injured in the shoot out.
Husband Chuck De Caro is an investigative reporter who has worked for CNN and served on in a U.S. military special forces group.
Note to robbers — don’t mess with Lynne Russell or her husband.
